1. Field
Aspects of the present disclosure relate generally to wireless communication systems, and more particularly, to wireless channel control.
2. Background
Wireless communication networks are widely deployed to provide various communication services such as telephony, video, data, messaging, broadcasts, and so on. Such networks, which are usually multiple access networks, support communications for multiple users by sharing the available network resources. One example of such a network is the UMTS Terrestrial Radio Access Network (UTRAN). The UTRAN is the radio access network (RAN) defined as a part of the Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS), a third generation (3G) mobile phone technology supported by the 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP). The UMTS, which is the successor to Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM) technologies, currently supports various air interface standards, such as Wideband-Code Division Multiple Access (W-CDMA), Time Division-Code Division Multiple Access (TD-CDMA), and Time Division-Synchronous Code Division Multiple Access (TD-SCDMA). The UMTS also supports enhanced 3G data communications protocols, such as High Speed Packet Access (HSPA), which provides higher data transfer speeds and capacity to associated UMTS networks.
As the demand for mobile broadband access continues to increase, research and development continue to advance the UMTS technologies not only to meet the growing demand for mobile broadband access, but to advance and enhance the user experience with mobile communications.
For example, currently, a multi-carrier user equipment (UE) may have more than one active High Speed Media Access Channel (MAC-HS) open at a given time. Each of these channels may facilitate UE communication with different cells serviced by one or more base stations. This functionality exists with all multi-flow scenarios—for example, Single Frequency Dual Cell (SFDC) and Dual Frequency Dual Cell (DFDC). Due to various conditions, such as signal strength or quality, a Radio Network Controller (RNC) may choose to transfer the MAC-HS channels from one base station to a second base station (or one cell to another cell). This may occur, for example, when a particular channel would have more robust data transfer if handed off to the second base station.
According to current operational norms, when a MAC-HS channel is transferred, the RNC must first reset not only the MAC-HS channel that is to be transferred, but all MAC-HS channels associated with the UE. For example, High Speed Packet Access (HSPA) specifications allow base stations to trigger reset of all MAC-HS channels on a connected UE by sending to the UE an over the air (OTA) message such as a Physical Channel Reconfiguration (PCR), Radio Bearer Reconfiguration (RBR), or Transport Channel Reconfiguration (TCR) message. The PCR message includes a flag (mac-hsResetIndicator), which, if set to true, instructs the UE to reset all of its MAC-HS channels. The message, however, cannot instruct the UE to reset or transfer a particular MAC-HS channel or a subset of all UE MAC-HS channels.
As a result, if more than one MAC-HS channel is active on a particular UE, the RNC cannot instruct the UE to reset a subset of all active MAC-HS channels. Instead, when a single active MAC-HS channel is to be reset, a RNC must instruct the UE to reset all of its active MAC-HS channels. In some situations, this forces the UE to perform reset operations on some active MAC-HS channels that are not in need of reset. These unneeded reset operations result in performance penalties, loss of data, bandwidth waste, and loss of battery life.
Thus, improved methods and apparatuses for resetting wireless communication channels are desired.